Bleached Bone Isle
by Doctor Robert
Summary: Paladin arrives at Bleached Bone Island and for the first time in a long while, he slows down to examine his life and how empty it seems. Of course, sometimes our deepest wishes are granted when we least expect them... A reflective One-Shot with WhisperXHero/Paladin. Rated K just in case I get in trouble for having two characters cuddle...


Ah, my first non-Fire Emblem Fan Fiction! ^_^ This came to me whist I was playing my second play-through of Fable TLC. As I came to Bleached Bone Island (the place behind the Demon Door in the Necropolis) it was just before sunrise in-game. I thought of what my character must be feeling, at the end of two climaxes, tired, really old (even after being rejuvenated at the two temples (or via that awesome cheat)), and such.

Enjoy! And remember that I don't own Fable because if I did, Whisper and/or Briar Rose could hook up with the Hero and also you could still do the gain-youth-multiple-times cheat in Fable Anniversary.

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"Give me yours! Please? I'll let you through and everything," the Demon Door was insistent. The Paladin rolled his eyes a little. It was just as well; he had no use for them now. "Yes, yes. Very good… hand them over!" The Paladin deposited the silver keys in front of the door, who seemed a bit giggly, "Mmm… Lovely, pretty Silver Keys! Come to daddy…" He giggled as the keys disappeared, "Thank you, you may pass." The head disappeared and the door slid open. Paladin walked through the ensuing tunnel…

When he came out, it wasn't cold anymore. Under him was sand. It crunched and sifted around his feet, reminding him of the beaches he was never allowed to walk on as a boy in Oakvale. He was on a tiny island in the middle of a calm sea. A chest near a pile of boulders hung near the other side of the isle. A small ship looked to be moored out near a smaller sandy island; there was smoke rising softly on the island's beach, perhaps from a fire. The ship looked like it belonged to a corsair or a pirate, the sails were red and had the pattern of a dragon and the hull was trimmed also in red. There ought to have been bandits or pirates here but the ship and both islands seemed deserted. As Paladin walked slowly from where he'd come, apparently a stone cave rising from the island, he saw behind him another isle of sand and the husk of a larger ship wedged into the sand.

This definitely wasn't in the backyard of Necropolis. Was this some sort of Old Kingdom magic? Paladin didn't feel like he'd been teleported… maybe there was more than one way to cross a large distance, as far as Will spells went. To the laymen it probably all seemed like the same sort of magic. In any case the place was desolate… but somehow calm and peaceful. Paladin's bones were weary, it seemed. Maybe he hadn't taken notice before.

It was before sunrise here, a procession of glowing color preceded the sun in the east. High wisps of clouds caught the light and glowed in red and pink. Paladin lay against the rocks that sheltered the chest, facing east. He was kept company by the skeleton of a dinghy overturned next to him.

He stroked his long blond beard a little. He may have looked like a teenager (a very tall, very strong, very blond teenager with blue runes etched in his skin, mind) but the many long faded scars and tattoos on his face and chest told a different tale. He had lived a hundred years or more by now… it was hard to keep track. He'd weathered a lot of things over all this time… there was so much he'd left behind. He felt he had no choice, if he'd done things differently; he'd still lose those he'd held closest in his life. He would still be here, watching the sunrise on this lonely and beautiful distant isle, and he would have no one to share it with…

_Well done, lad. Here's your reward for those good deeds._

Paladin still had that one gold piece in change when he bought that box of chocolates for his sister's birthday. It was literally the only thing he had left that his father had given him. Even in those early years after graduation when he wallowed in poverty, he didn't spend the coin. Had he known when he first pocketed that coin with the others that it would be the last time he'd ever hear his father's voice…

_We'll talk later. We have to escape!_

He and his mother never did have that talk. He was her prison-mate for a whole year but they never saw each other. After that, she was too busy working against Jack to have time to talk. Paladin never blamed her, there did happen to be a megalomaniac nut-case demon-thing bent on burning Albion to the ground but… She thought she had time enough left for talk and love. Paladin never got the chance to hug her before Jack sliced her dry…

_It's time I found where I belong. I know it isn't here._

Then she walked away. Paladin wanted to cry out to Theresa, to tell her that she did belong. At the very least he wanted to hug her. Instead, she walked quietly out of the Guild just as the fires died down. She didn't even say goodbye. Some thanks for saving her life. He would have thrown that sword away anyway because she was his sister, his last bit of family left. He had hoped they could at least remain family and not become strangers but… she disappeared never to be seen again. Maybe she was ashamed of her blindness or her past as a bandit; maybe she couldn't face her scars or her memories. He would've helped her gladly but she wouldn't accept it. She had tossed his joy away when he found she had survived, she had held him at arm's length thereafter. Paladin wondered if it mattered that she survived, she had convinced him she was dead…

_The truth is you've always been the better hero._

He had had a crush on Whisper since the day he met her. He never had the guts to tell her that one, though. It seemed like life forced them apart as they grew older. She was insistent on nurturing a rivalry between them. He never realized how much he was destroying her… until it was too late. Somehow he was given the choice of whether or not to kill Whisper. He had never even thought of it before, why would he kill someone he loved so deeply? Even if he did spare her, it was too late to reveal his true feelings; he had only begun to realize what had really been going on between them. The last time he saw her before she cast herself off from Oakvale, as she walked away, he wanted so badly to run after her, to hold her in his arms and tell her that despite all the years, he loved her, he always had. When he finally did try to run after her, she was gone.

All the people he had been close to in his life had faded away from him. He was probably the most famous hero since Scythe and yet he had nothing real to show for it; no friends, no family, no loved ones.

A figure came up from over the tiny hill on the small nearby island, walking from the distant campfire. He didn't want to believe his eyes as the woman ran and crossed the bit of water separating the islands. "Farmboy?" asked a familiar voice and there was no further doubt. The one person he wished to come back into his life the most was now standing before him as he stood. Her brow was furrowed as she gazed at him, surprised to see him to say the least. "What are you doing here?"

There was a time when he was almost a head shorter than her, now he towered over her almost hilariously by two heads as he stood clad in bright armor. "Don't speak," she said when she saw him take a breath, "It does not matter now. All that matters is that you're here." She took his hands and held them as she stared up into his eyes, "I never would have guessed I would have missed you so much. All those years… you were only the better hero because of me, weren't you?" Paladin blushed, his baby blue eyes soft, before he nodded, "It took me far too long to realize… I've been so stupid. I guess it was the nature of the Guild anyway… It doesn't matter."

Paladin sat against the rocks as he'd done before. Whisper lay against him. He put his huge arm around her and she nuzzled against him, "We're here now… we can share this sunrise."

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I love how Whisper never lets the Hero talk! XD Like seriously, that's the real reason the Hero never speaks, nobody lets him get a word in... XP

So obviously my Hero is really really good, really really old, and really really rejuvenated (thanks to the cheat which is awesome and sadly lacking in Anniversary). Maybe the ending is a bit tacked on... maybe it took me seven months to complete this (being on the back burner's back burner)... I dunno, tell me what you think... in that review thingy below. You know you want to. XD


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